Lonely Hearts
Wendy Cope
In this poem, I think there are multiple speakers that communicate through what seem like newspaper ads.
Each of these individuals is searching for someone to love and for someone to love them. They describe themselves as "gay vegetarian", or "male biker", or "executive". Then, they mention what kind of person they would be interested in, "female for touring fun", or "bisexual woman, arty, young" (Cope, 973). They are very concerned with labels and identifying themselves with typical societal definitions. It is ironic, however, that all of these lonely individuals are all writing in North London. They are all searching for a specific person with specific labels to be with, but meanwhile, there are others seaching just like them. I think the theme of the poem is to satirize the quest of love. I think the point of the poem is to highlight the absurdity of people's standards in looking for someone to love. Love is not about a "picture", as one asked for, or a label, but about an actual bond- a bond that was not advertized for in newspaper ads.
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